The Azov Battalion was formed in May 2014 as an all-volunteer paramilitary unit in response to the government’s struggle against separatists in the country’s east.

Funding for Azov comes from Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, a man who offered a bounty of $10,000 for each captured Russian "saboteur," as reported by Newsweek.

According to the BBC, Azov’s aims are stated in one of their online publications: "To prepare Ukraine for further expansion and to struggle for the liberation of the entire White Race from the domination of the internationalist speculative capital," and "to punish severely sexual perversions and any interracial contacts that lead to the extinction of the white man."

"Run by the extremist Patriot of Ukraine organization, which considers Jews and other minorities "sub-human" and calls for a white, Christian crusade against them, it sports three Nazi symbols on its insignia: a modified Wolf’s Hook, a black sun (or "Hakensonne") and the title Black Corps, which was used by the Waffen SS," stated the BBC.

In October of 2014, Azov Battalion servicemen took part in a march organized by Right Sector to commemorate the anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army who infamously undertook to ethnically cleanse western Ukraine of Poles in 1943 and 1944. And members of the Azov Battalion were shown on German TV wearing uniforms decorated with the Nazi swastika and SS symbols.

Vadim Troyan, an Azov deputy commander was appointed as Police Chief of Kiev Oblast (Region). "If they are appointing people like this to positions of such importance and power it is a very dangerous signal to the Jewish community of Ukraine," said Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office. "This is a very strange way of convincing the justifiably concerned Jewish world that there is no intention to encourage fascist sympathies or neo-Nazi activities."

Though not all Azov fighters admit to being neo-Nazis, a number of their members are openly anti-Semites or white supremacists. "Personally, I’m a Nazi," said one member, "Phantom" a 23-year-old former lawyer. "I don’t hate any other nationalities but I believe each nation should have its own country. After the First World War, Germany was a total mess and Hitler rebuilt it: he built houses and roads, put in telephone lines, and created jobs. I respect that." "Phantom" also claimed that homosexuality is a mental illness and the scale of the Holocaust "is a big question," wrote Tom Parfitt in The Telegraph.

"[One Azov member] claimed not to be a Nazi, but waxed lyrical about Adolf Hitler as a military leader, and believes the Holocaust never happened," according to Shaun Walker of the Guardian. Many in the Azov Battalion with whom the newspaper spoke shared this view.

Among the principals of the battalion are a member of the Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) Oleh Lyashko (leader of the Nationalist Party) and ultra-nationalist Bratstvo Party leader Dmytro Korchynsky, suspected of organizing provocateurs to use slingshots to shoot heavy screws at journalists, police and protesters in 2013.

US-backed Ukrainian government unapologetic

The Ukrainian government has not been shy about putting militias on the front lines, including those who are openly neo-Nazis.

In December, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko presented a Ukrainian passport to someone who, according to human rights activists, is a "Belarusian neo-Nazi" and is a founding member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Society whose main goal "is to prepare for a race war."

Biletsky, who was given an "Order For Courage" award by Poroshenko, recently wrote, "The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the white races of the world in a final crusade for their survival. A crusade against the Semite-led sub-humans. The task of the present generation is to create a Third Empire."

The US isn’t holding back

In the context of the US opposing a UN resolution designed to combat glorification of Nazism (the only other countries to vote against the resolution were Canada and Ukraine) an impression is created that the US will use any means necessary to achieve its goals in Eurasia.

"Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical
pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform
Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire," wrote
former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski in his 1997 book, The
Grand Chessboard.

"However, if Moscow regains control over Ukraine, with its 52 million people and major resources as well as access to the Black Sea, Russia automatically again regains the wherewithal to become a powerful imperial state, spanning Europe and Asia," said Brzezinski, who has been labeled, "The man behind Obama’s foreign policy."

The announcement of US troops being sent to Ukraine comes as the US-backed
government in Ukraine reported that it is implementing
a draft with the goal of adding up to 50,000 soldiers to fight the independence
movement (deceivingly labeled "pro-Russian separatists" by western
media) in Ukraine.

"[Ukraine’s army] is not even an army, it’s a foreign legion, in this case a foreign NATO legion," Russian President Vladimir Putin said this week. "They have totally different goals, connected to the geopolitical containment of Russia, which absolutely do not coincide with the national interests of the Ukrainian people."

"So again we’ve got this concerted effort in the West to aid the junta’s repression of the population in the East combined with this propaganda war basically blaming everything on this phantom Russian invasion for which no evidence has ever been produced," said foreign affairs expert Nebojsa Malic.

At least 5,100 people have been killed since the conflict began in April, according to the U.N., and violence last week was the most intense since September’s ceasefire. American tanks and military training will certainly inflame the situation, particularly given the positioning of US and NATO forces in Poland and the Baltic states.

According to the Associated Press, President Poroshenko held an emergency meeting of his military officials on Monday. "The time has come to name their (the independence movement) sponsors. The help given to militants, weapons deliveries, equipment and the training of manpower – is this not aiding terrorism?" Poroshenko said in a recorded statement.

In light of US support for, and the Ukrainian government’s embrace of anti-Semitic neo-Nazis, Poroshenko’s question is quite ironic and should be redirected to himself and his American allies.

As Gorbatshev said today USA want to go from cold war to warm war.Now the end of our world is coming soon.Thanks Obama.

wars r u.s.

This is a bipartisan issue where both sides want to provoke Russia. You can thank idiots like McCain as well.

Jeanie

Excellent article!

didi

Sending US soldiers to Ukraine is analogous to Khrushchev attempting to build rocket sites in Cuba.

elmysterio

It's worse actually. Significantly increases the odds of NATO and Russia getting into a shooting war… and that would be bad for everyone…

The 'Cuban Missile Crisis" was more of a pissing contest than anything. The United states already had Intermediate range weapons stationed in Turkey, which is what caused the USSR to attempt to station theirs in Cuba.

Yonatan

Kruschev put missiles in Cuba because the US put comparable missiles in Turkey. Kruschev and Kennedy agreed both sides should remove their systems. The US was allowed to pretend that the USSR blinked, purely for reasons of US domestic politics.

Charleston Voice

If our government supports neo-Nazism to overthrow govts overseas, it makes clear to Americans why our govt at home is so intolerant of opposition at home. Competing political opponents could overthrow THEM!

elmysterio

The United States ruling class has absolutely no issue with Fascism. It wouldn't be hard to make a case that the US is already fascist.

Farflungstar

Don't worry. From what I've read, the people of the Donbass are kicking the ass of unwilling Ukrainian cannon fodder. Tough when shelling civilians from a distance, cowards when it comes to up close and personal combat.
These neos are thankfully first in line and first to die protecting their motherland and race.

taco

Pity the poor conscripted fodder, thrown into battle with US troops at their rear.

Yonatan

Just like Hezbollah and the IDF.

Mikhail

Critics note that Kolomoyskyi’s “Romanian and Georgian” soldiers are really Mossad-trained agents. Joining the Mossad forces is an extension of the Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian People’s Self Defense Organization (UNA-UNSO), a mercenary organization maintained by the Central Intelligence Agency and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Eastern Europe, which fired on demonstrators in Ukraine during protests in March, killing 86 and fueling the violence that brought Kolomoyskyi to power.

Kolomoyskyi is a bloody butcher in the tradition of Ukraine’s Soviet commissars and has raised money from pro-Israel groups to finance the assassination of Ukrainian officials that support Russia.

Lee Luttrell

Everybody is getting paid by somebody in the Ukraine. So why are the neo-nazis being singled out? This article needs a little more balance to it.

Michael Kenny

I always say that when Americans start waving the swastika, they've really run out of arguments! The bottom line is Mr Ernesto believes that Putin is losing the war. And, by the sound of it, so does Vlad. think they're right! The Ukrainian Prime Minister is himself a Jew. He must know exactly who they are and if he has no problem with them (or they with him!) then why should anyone else? The idea that a Jewish PM, in particular, one whom the pro-Putin propaganda machine presents as being more less "appointed" by Victoria Nuland, is knowingly employing Jew-haters is just laughable.
Arsen Avakov was placed on the Interpol list by Ukrainian prosecutors in respect of a land transaction. Since he is now Interior Minister, whatever problem there was with with that transaction must have been cleared up. That Mr Ernesto is reduced to smearing people wildly with anything that comes to hand merely reinforces the sense of defeat which permeates the whole article.

Sophia Jones

It's amazing how much the US government gets away with because the corporate media doesn't address these very important topics such as the fact that we are supporting neo-Nazies in Ukraine!!! Unbelievable but true and so articles like this get the word out. Well done.